"It's not fair! Why did this have to happen to us?" 

The last month had been perhaps one of the worst that the group had ever faced in the entirety of their career. Whilst their promotions had finished, the girls had thought about getting some rest, some time to themselves. And whilst they had received peace for a little while, the tranquility had been disturbed.

Jennie and Kai had broken up.

"Why is it that when anything ever happens, it always gets blamed on me?" Jennie sobbed into Jisoo's arms, the older girl gently rubbing her back "And Kai! I don't even know how he must be feeling,"

It was at times like this where Soojae really despised YG and any company really, and she was sure that it was YG and SM who had suffered through a break-up and not their artists. The couple had gone in for a meeting earlier, and Jennie had returned, crying. She was banned from talking to Kai, and whilst they couldn't exactly stop her from calling him, the girl couldn't bring herself to talk to him.

"Unnie, you have to talk to Kai oppa at some point," Lisa mumbled, rubbing the older's back "He's probably really worried about you,"

"Lisa is right," Soojae agreed "Kai oppa would rather know that you're safe than he would care about SM or YG,"

Just as Jennie opened her mouth, a phone call interrupted their exchange, the ringtone sharp in everyone's ears. 

"It... it's Kai oppa," Chaeyoung turned to look at Jennie whose cat eyes were filled with tears.

"Don't answer!" She blurted "I can't face him right now, or ever!"

But before Chaeyoung could cut the call, Jisoo had already grabbed the phone out of the Australian girl's hands, answering it.

"Kai oppa?"

"Jisoo-ssi? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Where's Jennie? I can't get through to her, and I know that we're not allowed to talk and stuff, but I couldn't give two sh*ts right now,"

Jisoo glanced at the girl who had her eyes shut tight but they all knew that she was listening. "She's here,"

There was a pause on the other side. "Tell her that I know it's hard and that it feels like hell just came on earth. But that it's going to be okay. We're going to be okay," Kai swallowed from where he was sat "And tell her not to be too hard on herself, and to make sure that she eats properly and that- that I love her,"

With those final words, Kai hung up, leaving all of Blackpink under a cloud of gloom. A cloud that wasn't going to go anytime soon.

...

The next few days were filled with even more gloom and upset. Twice and Red Velvet had stopped by the dormitory, in hopes of possibly comforting Jennie, but not even their visits could earn a smile from the girl's face.

This time, it was Got7 who had visited Jennie. Whilst fans were aware of the groups' friendship, it went further from what they saw on camera, considering that they were all very good friends.

"We all know what we signed up for when we came into this industry," JB muttered as the group sat quietly in the living room, sombre expressions on their faces.

"Particularly when we signed with one of the Big 3," Mark mumbled, playing with one of Lisa's cats.

A silence descended upon the 12 idols, all thinking about the lack of freedom that they had, particularly for the female idols. JB was right, they had all known what they had signed up for, and in one way, the dating ban was one consequence of it.

Was it a crime to fall in love?

"We should get going," Youngjae stood up, patting Jennie's arm lightly "Chin up, Jennie, you're one of the Queens in the industry,"

A small smile made its way onto Jennie's face for the first time since the incident at the mention of the name. It was a nickname that idols had all come up with when talking about the most famous female idols, and naturally, Jennie was one of the Queens. In fact, all of Blackpink was one.

"Things will get better, noona," Yugyeom offered a smile and Jackson nodded in agreement.

"Damn YG!" He whispered as they chuckled.

"I'm staying," Jinyoung muttered.

"So am I," BamBam added, clinging onto his Thai best friend.

...

"So, how have things been with Hoseok?" Jinyoung quietly shut the door behind him as he took a seat on Soojae's bed, the girl hugging one of her plushies.

"He keeps asking to meet up, but I've told him that we can't, at least, not yet," She mumbled, looking slightly downcast.

"What?" Her best friend demanded "Why not? You've literally had a crush on him for ages and he's asking to meet up just you two, and you're refusing?"

"My sister is out there, sobbing her heart out over Kai and YG and SM," Soojae glared at Jinyoung and the older boy softened "I can't leave her to chase after the boy I like when her own heart's hurting,"

...

Meanwhile, Jung Hoseok was staring at his phone in confusion as he read the last message that Soojae had sent him.

Jae(◕‿◕✿)

When do you want to meet?

This week?

Hobi

I'm really sorry but,

I can't meet up for at least a couple of weeks

I'm really sorry 

It's okay

We can do it another time

Have a good day

(◠﹏◠✿)

You too

ヽ(^◇^*)/

Hoseok was puzzled, very puzzled. He had thought that the two had enjoyed meeting each other after the award show, and the lunch the next day had been even better. But he didn't understand why the female was so adament on not meeting him. They texted loads but it would be even better to see her in person.

"What'cha looking at, hyung?" Jimin sat beside the rapper on the couch, peering curiously at his phone "Is that Soojae-ssi?"

"I'm confused, Jiminie," He mumbled "I've asked to meet her loads of times now, but she keeps saying that she can't. And now she's saying that we can't meet for at least a few weeks,"

"Maybe she doesn't like you, Hobi!" Jin called from the kitchen counter, earning him a fierce glare from Jimin.

"Ignore Jin hyung, Hobi hyung," He said "I think I might know why Soojae-ssi doesn't want to meet you at the moment,"

"Why?"

"Because Kai hyung and Jennie-ssi broke up this week," Jimin said quietly "It's been all over the media and Blackpink and Exo have kept on the down-low. She probably wants to make sure her members are okay, first,"

AUTHOR'S NOTE

i will never forget how some who called themselves blinks absolutely crushed jennie whilst and after she was dating kai.

 the fact that they hurt her, and the fact that some continue to hurt all the members like this is disgusting. 

the girls are not your punching bags.

 they are real humans with feelings and i don't know how they manage to hold up those smiles even when they're hurt.

i hope you're okay and doing well

take care and stay safe

xx